The St. Louis Blues had a decent amount of turnover this calendar year, highlighted by trading away Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline and dealt Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals this offseason. Entering the offseason and free agency, the Blues desperately needed to address their center depth. The Blues did just that on the first night of the NHL Draft.
The big move made by the Blues was acquiring Mason McTavish from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for the No. 15 and 29 overall picks in the draft. The Blues had four first-round picks at their disposal, and decided to use two of them to get a player who was in demand on the trade block. Now, he slots in as the No. 2 center behind Robert Thomas. The hope is that McTavish can turn things around after an uneventful tenure with the Ducks.
But, the Blues may be taking a gamble on McTavish.
The Athletic' Harman Dayal unveiled a power rankings list of every NHL team's top center duos. For St. Louis, the duo of Thomas and McTavish ranked in the fifth tier, which was dubbed "middle of the pack." While Dayal praised Thomas, he was critical of McTavish as the second-line center for St. Louis.
The Athletic gives Blues a wake-up call on Mason McTavish
"McTavish, on the other hand, has a lot to prove next season," writes Dayal. "His pedigree and offensive tools are legit (he’s only a year removed from scoring 52 points as a 22-year-old), but he owns some of the worst defensive metrics in the NHL, is a very poor skater and is coming off a disappointing campaign in which he lost the 2C role. McTavish has the potential to take a meaningful step, especially because a contract dispute last fall forced him to miss training camp, which put him behind the eight ball, but for now he’s a below-average 2C."
Look, the Blues weren't the only team that was interested in brining in McTavish this offseason. The New York Rangers were reportedly in the running as well, but the Blues ultimately won out. While McTavish does have the upside offensively, he still has a lot to improve on heading into this season.
McTavish did thrive well when Greg Cronin was his head coach. His best season was the 2024-25 campaign, where he recorded career-highs in goals (20), assists (30), and points (53), while having a face-off win percentage of 50.7. But when Cronin was fired and replaced by Joel Quenneville, McTavish's play dropped off.
This past season with the Ducks, McTavish recorded 17 goals, 24 assists, a minus-15 plus/minus ratio, and a 48.6 face-off win percentage. As Dayal mentions, McTavish was eventually bumped out of the No. 2 center role in Anaheim this past season.
His defensive skills have been under the microscope, as well as his skating, both areas of improvement. It will be up to the Blues to get the most out of him. It's beneficial to both McTavish and the team.
Mason McTavish has Greg Cronin to help him thrive in St. Louis
The good thing for McTavish is that he has some members from the Ducks in St. Louis to help him out.
Cronin, his former coach, is now an assistant under Blues head coach Jim Montgomery. So, there was a familiarity on the team, hence why they made the trade to acquire him. The good news is that McTavish hasn't even reached the prime of his career, as he's entering his age 24 season, so there is still plenty of room for him to grow. If he can get back to the production level he had in the 2024-25 season that would be a solid baseline for him.
But there will be pressure on McTavish to succeed in St. Louis, as he's under contract for the next five season, where he carries an annual cap hit of $7 million. Add that to him being thrusted into the second-line center role, and fans are probably going to want to see results quickly this upcoming season.
This past season, even with the Blues being sellers at the trade deadline, finished just four points outside of a Wild Card spot. We'll see if the moves they made this offseason were enough to put the Blues over the threshold to make it back into the playoffs.
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